ELMWOOD PARK, N.J.--Sealed Air Corp. is announcing the top three finalists in the third annual Bubble Wrap Competition for Young Inventors. They are:
- Corianne Cha, 13, North Brunswick, N.J.--“Stroke Rehabilitation Color Chart”--A chart that helps stroke survivors gauge their recovering strength and helps guide their rehabilitation progress.
- Tucker Haas, 11, Charlotte, N.C.--“My Personal Swing Thing”--A swing for children with movement disorders that provides adjustable back and neck support using different amounts of Bubble Wrap brand cushioning.
- Nathan Huber, 14, St. Peter, Minn.--“Bubble Learning”--An interchangeable flash card system to help make learning fun for children.
“Every year, the competition for America’s next young inventor grows more intense and the caliber of the submitted inventions was strong. In the end, the ingenuity of the three finalists’ inventions stood out as most impressive to the judges,” stated William V. Hickey, Sealed Air’s president and CEO. Bubble Wrap was invented by the founders of Sealed Air.
The three finalists will be flown along with a family member to New York City, where the Grand Prize Winner and runner-ups will be announced on Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day (January 26, 2009).
While in New York, the finalists and their families will enjoy an exclusive tour of Sealed Air’s main Bubble Wrap manufacturing plant in Saddle Brook, N.J. Later that night, the students will attend a special awards dinner celebration at New York’s famous Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center. The weekend will culminate with front row seating at Blue Man Group, the off-Broadway sensation that combines music, comedy and multimedia theatrics.
The Grand Prize Winner of the competition will receive a $10,000 U.S. savings bond, while the second and third place winners will receive $5,000 and $3,000 U.S. savings bonds, respectively.
The teacher/mentor of each finalist will receive a $500 gift card.
The Bubble Wrap Competition for Young Inventors encourages U.S. students in grades five through eight to demonstrate their creativity and ingenuity by designing an invention that incorporates the use of Bubble Wrap brand cushioning. Students were invited to submit original inventions along with a visual and written description that included the name of the invention, the purpose it serves, how it works and how the idea was formulated.
The Bubble Wrap Competition is administered in conjunction with the National Museum of Education and all submitted entries were judged based on their originality, creativity and practicality, as well as their benefit to society, marketability and overall presentation. This year’s competition attracted more than 2,200 entries from 40 states, with entries that included everything from a holiday tree skirt and jewelry to a sanitary hand guard for escalators and a punching bag.
